Mark woke up to the sound of a cry.

He sat up with a start. He wasn't used to this. Long gone were the days when Elise had been a toddler, long gone were the nights where he and Lexie would get up and fend after their little infant.

Mark blinked several times. It took him a moment to work out where he was and whose cries were sounding through the crackling baby monitor.

The red and green lights kept springing back and forth indicating the young child's distress.

Nathan. His son.

He threw the comforter off of him and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was about to hurry out of the room when the cries subside somewhat. He glanced back at the monitor, the flashing lights slowing with the little girl's sniffles.

It was then he heard it. It broke through the speakers crisp and clear and he stopped breathing.

"Shh. Don't cry."

The words were thick and rusty and foreign and yet at the same time so familiar.

That wasn't Meredith's voice. That wasn't Derek's voice.

He snatched the monitor up off of the bedside table and turned the volume up.

"It's okay, you don't have to be scared."

The voice was distinctively childlike.

Mark's eyes narrowed and then snapped back to the warm bed he'd been laying in moments before. Elise was not there.

"I'm here, you don't have to be scared."

His orbs widened considerably and his heart sped up. He dropped the monitor onto the bed and then his feet were carrying him out of the bedroom.

He smiled tearfully and walking through the little hallway.

They'd set up a carrycot in the other room of the large hotel suite and Mark could see them through the moonlight.

"Do you miss Mama?"

An immediate lump formed in Mark's throat as Elise's voice filtered through him. It was a scratchy, unused little voice but the way she pronounced her words were just as he remembered.

Elise managed to free Nathan from his cot and now they are on the bed.

He watched Elise lay down and Nathan, who's been standing up dropped onto his bottom. He was seemingly calmed by his big sister's presence.

"I'll sleep with you if you like," Elise said sweetly. "You'll see Mama soon. She's not very well but she's getting better. My aunt Meredith says so."

Nathan laid down and then Elise starts to sing a song, a song that her Mom had sung to her at bedtime at what felt like a million years ago.

Mark watched on, hanging on every beautiful little sound that escaped the little girl's mouth. Mark wanted to go in there, he wanted to grab her and hug her fiercely and tell her how wonderful she was but he stood by and watched, fearing that any interference would silence her forever more.

Eventually, Elise stops singing and he edged further into the room. He covered the sleeping angels with a blanket and stared down adoringly at them. Elise curled up to her stomach while Nathan's little hand was clutching at the front of his big sister's nighty and Mark could safely say this was one of the happiest moments of his life.

Mark could have stood there all night watching over their sleeping figures.

"Do you remember what happened the morning of the kidnapping Lexie?"

Mark was sitting beside her, his hand over hers.

"I was, I was..." She paused. "Who are you?" She kinked her brow, this woman wasn't a doctor she'd met before, this woman wasn't an investigator. "Who is she, Mark?"

He'd hoped they could do this without her clocking on but she was smarter than that, she was more observant than that.

"Lexie this is Doctor Reyes, she's a psychiatrist."

"A psychiatrist," Lexie repeated.

"Yes, Lexie," Doctor Reyes smiled. "I was hoping we could have a little chat."

"I don't need a shrink. Did you do this? Did you ask her to talk to me?" She accused angrily. Mark didn't like the look she was giving him.

"Lexie," Doctor Reyes intervened before Mark could respond. "Mark didn't ask me to speak with you, your doctors did."

"I'm not crazy.."

"You're most certainly not." The woman shook her head vigorously. "I'm not here because we think you're crazy, we just think it would be good for you to speak with me."

"Why?"

"Do you think what happened is your fault Lexie?"

She frowned and Mark looked at her expectantly, he was curious as to what she actually thought.

"I'm tired. I don't want to talk right now."

"Honey, please just try," Mark pleaded.

"I'm tired."

After a long three weeks, they were going home. It had been hard. Mark had spent the majority of his time attempting to get Lexie to talk to someone but she was having none of it and he'd only succeeded in getting her riled up and stressed out.

Meredith had spent most of the time looking after the kids. She wasn't used to looking after a one year old and although she was a natural, she hadn't found it a walk in the park by any means. She found dividing her attention between Nathan and Elise was near impossible, Nathan required her twenty-four seven whereas the older one didn't and Meredith was seriously concerned about what effect this was all having on her. She did not speak again. Neither of them had addressed her directly about talking, fearing that the slight mention of speaking would just prevent her from doing so. Instead, Mark found himself lying awake at night and waiting for a repeat of the first night that he brought Nathan. But although Nathan had frequently woken crying out in the past few weeks, Elise had not strayed from her bed again.

Meredith and Derek were already back in Seattle with the kids. Mark really didn't know how he would have got through this without them.

The doctors had finally agreed that Lexie was fit enough to travel.

"Are you okay?" Mark asked for the hundredth time since they'd leave the hospital. "Lex?"

Her head tilted and she finally looked at him. She'd been in a world of her own since the second they'd got out the car and she had taken to just staring at all the busy people going about their business. This was all strange to her. She'd been so isolated and suddenly all these people seemed scary to her.

"I'm fine."

Everything was as Lexie remembered. Everything was as Mark remembered.

This house hadn't been in use for a year and a half now. Elise stayed at Meredith and Derek's house when Mark had gone to prison.

Lexie glanced up the hallway. The clock was ticking softly as though no time had gone at all.

"It's cold huh? I'll go put the heater on." Mark broke the silence that had bestowed on them. Lexie followed him on unsteady legs, her hand rubbing Nathan's back, she was sure that the little boy wasn't a bit phased by what was going on but if the little motion wasn't comforting the boy, it was helping him. She was instantly brought back to the last day she'd been here as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Lexie?"

"Huh?" Lexie glanced around. Elise was sitting at the table, the glass of milk in front of her and chocolate chip cookie on her hand seemed to be distracting her.

"Do you want something to drink?" He repeated for the third time.

"Oh no, I'm okay. I.. I think I'll put Nathan down to bed."

"Why don't you sit down, I'll do it."

"No, I want to do it," She avoided his eyes. "Where shall I lay him?"

Mark smiled and gestured for her to follow him. They went upstairs and down the hall, he paused in front of what she knew to be the guest room.

Lexie gasped, her eyes wide as she took in the room. It was nothing like Nathan's old room. There was no blue in sight. The walls were pale green and the pieces of furniture are all white.

Lexie let an inquisitive Nathan down. He toddled around the room on wobbly legs, picking up the toys with a beaming smile and then holding them out to Lexie and jabbering his own language.

Lexie gave him a small smile. "It's too much."

"No," Mark disagreed, it wasn't too much. His kids deserved everything and more.

"He loves it," Lexie nodded.

Elise appeared to also inspect the decorated room and both parents watched her silently interact with her brother. Nathan was jabbering on to her and struggling to get a spinning top spinning. Elise knelt on the ground beside him and carefully pushed down the extended axis a couple of times. The toy began to slowly rotate, the bright design of animals spinning faster until they were just a blur of colors. Nathan clapped his little hands together and giggled in delight and Elise smiled at his reaction.

Mark and Lexie watched, a smile gracing both their faces at the sight of their kids. Mark hesitantly slid his hand round her smaller fingers and she didn't pull away, she moved closer and although small and somewhat insignificant to some, Mark was overjoyed that she was holding hands with him and that she was smiling and most of all, she's safe and they were home now. For the first time in days, he felt that perhaps they could have that life again, that happy life that they so truly deserved.

Let me know what you think..